'A setup': Dutton slams Labor's plan on draft religious bills

The Albanese government has drafted two pieces of legislation around religious discrimination, but the Prime Minister will shelve the bills if the Coalition plans to oppose them.

It's understood Labor does not want to engage in a divisive debate, citing rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

The draft laws seek to protect the right of schools to hire on the basis of religion, while protecting children against all forms of discrimination.

The Morrison government's attempt to amend religious discrimination laws was shelved in February 2022, after five Liberal MPs crossed the floor, in support of protections for transgender students at religious schools.

Labor had promised to bring forward its own package on religious freedoms ahead of the 2022 election.

Mr Albanese discussed the draft laws with Mr Dutton, while travelling on a flight from Canberra to the funeral of Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon.

On Tuesday, Mr Dutton told journalists he had "a cordial conversation" with the Prime Minister about the legislation, but had not seen the draft bills.

"I didn't give any commitments to the Prime Minister, I said we hadn't seen the report, we hadn't seen the bill," he said.

"And we would have a discussion internally as to what our position would be."

But he also lashed Mr Albanese for his stance on bi-partisan support, claiming that it was a "setup".

"We now know that the Prime Minister is trying to find a way out of proceeding with these issues, because he's clearly got a problem with the left wing of his party," Mr Dutton claimed.

"Now what he wants to do is to be able to say, 'Oh, look, we gave it every good shot, we just couldn't do anything on the religious discrimination bills because we couldn't get [a] bipartisan position from the Coalition."

"That's the setup here."